@GaruuSpike
 
Serioiusly, is this even edible without getting some kind of metal poisoning?
 
@GaruuSpike
 
My headcanon is that naturally-formed gems are about as valuable as real world gems in account of their rarity, but less valuable but functionally identical (good enough for a dragon) gems can be produced by rock farms and the like.

@GaruuSpike  
The founding story did stay Equestria was idiotically flooded with resources. X3

Yummy yummy yummy

Dammit, Sandbar!

@GaruuSpike  
Ye Gods. Of all the utterly idiotic ways to waste your money, that one’s a winner.

@Ardashir
 
So, for the dragons, it’s the equivalent of the $1,000 gold-plated chicken wings that one restaurant in New York sells.
 

 
@SinnerWhoKeepsTrying1978
 
I’m not so sure that gems are a rare find considering that caverns like this exist:
 

 
And how said cave is entirely uncontested, which further implies that the gems aren’t valuable enough to extract unless the person doing that has a specific non-monetary purpose in doing so. They’re shiny, and Rarity’s creative eye lets her make them into some really pretty dresses. I’d wager that huge diamond(?) Rarity is carrying here is worth no more than the equivalent of $25. Its “value” comes from the labor required to extract it. It might be pretty heavy.

@GaruuSpike  
Could be that certain gemstones are simply much rarer than others and thus more valuable.

@GaruuSpike  
That could be how gems connect dragons and ponies. The dragons, in their greed, hang onto the gems they find, making them a rare find for the ponies, who value them because they’re so rare. And, because the ponies, and for that matter the diamond dogs, value the gems so much; the dragons are more motivated to dig up as much of their food source as they can, making them that much more difficult for those two other species to find.

This reminds me; how are gems valuable in Equestria if they are common enough to sustain an entire race of dragons?
 
I distinctly remember one episode in I think Season 5 where Rarity gives the CMC a very small gem, which is then used to purchase some complicated-looking machinery.

A puntastic finisher, Sandbar^^

pifft!

Sandbar the pun is terrible